Jockeying for You

by Stacy Hoff

  “I’m not willing to let you go,” she said, nuzzling her nose against his chest.

  She could admit that now. To him. And to herself.

  Chapter 14

  Sunlight filtered in underneath the drawn shades of their suite in the Saratoga Arms. Jake held Ryder’s body loosely against him as she slept. He’d been awake for quite a while.

  The new day had brought him new resolve. Ryder had come a long way in trusting him. Baring her scars was a big step. Even if they were softer after the spa bath. But it wasn’t enough.

  She was going to have to fight for herself, as well as for her relationship with him. Like he had to fight against his father and people like Barney Smythe. It wasn’t only horses that had to win—people did, too. The finish line was more than a physical point, it was mental and even spiritual. The desire to race toward one’s ultimate goal, unhindered by doubts and despite any pain. Because doing anything less would be a letdown to one’s self.

  He was sure Handsome Dancer instinctively knew this. He could only hope Ryder did, too. She was so fragile. Not just physically, with her jockey-esque figure, but with her psyche. For her, it was clearly a much harder blow to be knocked over by people than a mere horse. Some injuries were harder to overcome than others.

  He glanced down at the beauty sleeping beside him and watched her eyes flutter open. He squeezed her tighter to him. “Glad you’re awake.”

  She stretched out languidly and gave him a kiss. “Glad to wake up with you.”

  He pretended to frown. “Then why am I only getting a kiss on the cheek?”

  “You know the rule. No toothpaste, no nookie.”

  “Don’t care,” he responded, kissing her deeply on the lips until she giggled.

  “Let me do you a favor and brush my teeth.”

  But her attempt to get up was thwarted by his holding her down. “Stop running away. If you really want to do me a favor, you’ll ride Handsome Dancer in the upcoming maiden special weight race. Say you agree.” He grinned. “You’ve already got the silks.”

  Her happy expression faded in front of him. “So much for morning bliss,” she groused.

  “At least I let you sleep on it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I haven’t been a jockey for a long time. Assuming I was going to do this, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of time for me to get back up to speed. And I have other horses I can’t neglect.”

  “Can Mindy and Lenny help you out more with the others?”

  “Lenny already does everything he can for me. Mindy is down a few horses right now, so I can ask her. She’s a great trainer but also struggles to get clients.”

  “I’ll make it worth her while if she’ll agree to do it.”

  Ryder bit her lower lip. “I can call her to find out.”

  Jake felt his heart stop beating. And then flutter with hope. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

  He felt her shake and cling tightly to him. Her words were muffled as she buried her head against his bare chest. “I don’t know. This is all happening so fast.”

  He stroked the back of her head, reveling in the softness of her blond hair. “Is it fast? The way your rode Handsome Dancer I could have sworn you were riding him in a race. You can handle him.”

  “They’ll be other horses to contend with on the track. I’m not used to maneuvering through them anymore. Neither is Handsome. It’ll be like having two newbies together. At best, we’ll lose. At worst, one of us will get injured.”

  He frowned at the thought. “You know I don’t want any harm to come to you. Either of you, actually. But injuries can happen at any time on the track, even if you’re the most knowledgeable superstar. You know this field is dangerous. Emanuel knows what he’s doing and he still got hurt.”

  He felt her stiffen next to him. Quickly, he smoothed the back of her hair with his hands to soothe her.

  “When my father passed on, Lenny was too happy to teach me to be a trainer. Lenny doesn’t have any kids. I think he wants to be sure he can hang on to me. I think that’s why he’s grouchy all the time. He knows I want to be a jockey again. He’s afraid I’ll get hurt.”

  “He’s told you not to do it?”

  “He hasn’t said anything one way or another. He doesn’t bring it up and neither do I.”

  He could swear he felt a drop of water trickle down his chest. He tilted her head up. “Look at me. Are you crying?”

  “No. Maybe. A little.” She swiped at her eyes. “Lenny’s torn. I am, too.”

  “You’ve been trained by more than Lenny. You told me your father taught you how to race. You’ve prepared for years. I doubt you can forget that. For you, it’ll literally be getting right back in the saddle.”

  She said nothing while she traced Jake’s chest with a fingertip. He beat the sexual thoughts down and garnered up the strength to finish the important conversation. “Do what’s in your heart, Ry. Not for me, not for Lenny, not for Handsome Dancer. Do this for you. You have a golden opportunity. It’s the brass ring you’ve been waiting for. Reach out from the carousel’s horse and take it.”

  He held her chin and her gaze. Her light blue eyes were more beautiful than any he’d ever seen. They reflected sincerity, fear, and hopefulness all at the same time.

  “The most injured person around here is me,” he quipped. “I’ve fallen for you hard.” He kissed the tip of her nose, wet and salty from her tears.

  “My God, Jake . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Good, because I’ve still got one important thing left to say. “Regardless of what you decide, please know I still want to be with you. I can give up on horses. Business. Even my father. But I can’t give up on you.”

  Her eyes were now round. Large and perfect. He whisked a blond strand away from them.

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  The volume of her voice was so low he thought he might have misheard her. Or that she had said nothing, but he’d heard wishful thinking in the wind. “What did you say?” His own voice was so tight he was amazed his words formed.

  She angled herself upward and kissed his lips. “I said okay. I’ll do it. I want to make you happy. And maybe it will make me happy.” She choked back obvious emotion.

  “Do it for you, Ryder. The first person to please is yourself.”

  “When I’m pleasing you, I’m pleasing me. I’m falling for you, too, Jake Carter.”

  “Then I promise to be there to catch you. I—” His words were cut off by a sharp beeping from his smartphone.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ryder said sourly. “Now your phone has to ring?”

  Jake apparently wasn’t thrilled by the timing either. He cursed as he leaned over the nightstand to pick it up. But when he glanced at it he smiled. “Oh,” he remarked, his voice perky. “Excellent. It’s nine o’clock already.” He hopped off the bed, grabbed a robe and stealthy opened the suite’s door.

  What the heck is he doing? “Um, Jake? Everything all right?” Then she watched him bend down and pick up a large box.

  “Right on time.” He shut the door and practically ran back to the bed. “The package is for you. Open it.” He sounded like an enthusiastic child.

  Her eyes went wide. “Thank you, but what’s the occasion? Christmas in July?”

  “Funny. Open it.”

  She grinned. “Okay. I’m excited.” She tore off the bright, multicolored gift-wrap and then lifted up the box’s lid.

  With delicate fingers, she took out a derby hat, similar to the one she had admired in the store, only this one was decked out in his stable’s colors.

  He smiled at her, his expression warm and deep. “Whether you’re racing my horse or in the stands with me, I want you wearing my colors. I want the whole world to know you’re mine.”
/>   Her heart soared, her breathing hitched, and her mouth dropped open.

  Jake seemed only too happy to kiss her lips closed.

  Chapter 15

  Back in Long Island, Jake sat at the same French restaurant, at the very same table, he had dined at with Ryder a few weeks ago on their first date. This time, however, with a much less pleasurable companion. His father. The old man looked at him with a grim expression.

  It had been a long, hard conversation so far, and the prospect of it getting better was thin. The ordeal had taken a toll on Jake. He had come to the meeting with an open mind, but it was hard not to have his mood grow as dark as the late-evening sky. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dad. I hear you. I’m sorry you’re upset. But I care about Ryder Hannon. Upsetting her is going to upset me, so you can’t call her anymore.”

  His father straightened in the wooden chair. Jake marveled at the quality of the suit, shirt, and tie his father wore. No matter how much Jake spent to look like a million, his father seemed to actually spend a million. As his father poured himself another glass from their expensive bottle of wine, Jake wondered if he had ever seen his father look casual. Like an actual father instead of a businessman. Even as a child Jake couldn’t remember ever seeing him in jeans. A tee shirt. Or, God forbid, sweatpants. I’ll have to ask Dina if she remembers a time when Dad dressed down.

  “Ah, there she is,” his father remarked with great enthusiasm.

  What? Who is he talking about? Jake was confused until he watched his father gesture over a tall, thin, brunette beauty in a couture knee-length dress. His stomach sank. Betsy. His hands clenched into tight fists. Dad’s got to be kidding me. “Dad,” Jake ground out. “I don’t think you’ve gotten my message. Stop interfering with my life.”

  “Nonsense,” his father bellowed to the consternation of a couple sitting one table over.

  Before Jake could do any more, Betsy was before them. His father ordered the wait staff to bring over another chair. Within seconds, Betsy was seated beside them. With a lovely flush of her perfect cheeks, she lifted an arm to touch Jake’s sleeve.

  “Don’t,” Jake warned.

  “Where are your manners, son? I invited Betsy to join us for dessert. I was hoping I’d talk some sense into you during dinner. Too bad I didn’t get the chance. You were too busy repudiating everything I said. But Betsy here knows I’m a man to be listened to, right?”

  Betsy smiled and nodded. “Right you are, Mr. Carter.” Then she turned her attention to Jake. “How have you been, Jakey? It’s been too long. I’ve missed you.”

  Am I on an episode of Punk’d? Or in a Salvador Dali painting perhaps? If the restaurant’s wall clock starts melting to the floor the night still couldn’t get any more surreal. “You miss me because you dumped me. And you did it as soon as you thought I was running low on cash. The horse you asked me to buy was draining my wallet, so you didn’t want to waste any more of your time on me. That about right?”

  “Jake,” his father said in a warning tone.

  “It’s all right, Mr. Carter,” Betsy said. “I expected this. I never did explain to Jake the reason why I left him.”

  She turned to Jake. “I thought your financial situation was stressing you out so much I couldn’t make you happy anymore. I left to give you space.” She looked down at the table and caught her breath before she risked eye contact again. “To be honest, Jakey, I also wanted to make things easier on myself. It’s hard to be around a man who doesn’t notice you anymore.” She picked up his hand and held it. “It was a bad call on my part, I know. I should have stuck it out. Somehow I should have convinced you to focus on me. But I ran away instead. I’m so—”

  Jake took his hand back and placed it firmly beside him. “It was a terrible call.”

  “You need to give her a chance,” his father commanded. “Instead of being interested in the hired help like your horse trainer, Betsy here is one of our kind. Well-bred—”

  “Handsome Dancer is well bred, but you didn’t like my selection with him. Go figure,” Jake quipped.

  “Listen to me, Jakey,” Betsy pleaded, “I’m not—”

  “What you’re not,” Jake interrupted, “is going to be with me.” He pushed out his chair and rose from the table. “Since you two seem to value each other’s company so much, feel free to enjoy the rest of the evening together. I’ve got a date with the hired help. Good night.”

  With those parting words, Jake walked out of the restaurant.

  Ryder swallowed hard and grabbed the doorknob to her office, bracing herself. The room was only partially lit, whatever light there was filtering in through the window. In a few minutes, the sun would be full down. She hit the light switch and called out, “Lenny?”

  The old man walked in heavily from a back room. “Ryder? Did you forget something?”

  Yes, my courage. “Um, no. I wanted to speak with you.”

  Lenny rested his rear end on the edge of a desk and crossed his arms over his chest expectantly.

  I wonder if that’s where I get it from? Geez, the posture looks so self-protective. Defensive, even. “I’m going to come right out and say it. I’d like to . . . no, I need to . . . race again professionally. At least one last time. Jake Carter has asked me to be the jockey for Handsome Dancer, and I said yes.” She coughed and felt herself squirm. “I want you to be the official trainer so I’m not playing both roles. Will you do this for me?”

  Lenny’s eyes popped open but he said nothing for a long while.

  “Speak to me, Lenny. Please?”

  “I have no problem having you put me down as the trainer. But watching you race is going to kill me, little girl,” the old man said, his words dry. “What’s going to happen if you fall again? What’s going to happen to me if I watch you fall again?”

  “I know, Lenny,” she answered softly. “For a long while, I couldn’t bear the thought of it myself. I was hospitalized for a long time, and I’m lucky I didn’t get killed.”

  “Does Jake Carter want that to happen to you?” he shot out defiantly. “’Cause if he does, I’ve got a right hook he won’t be able to duck. I may be old but I can still fight like a man.”

  “You’re fighting for me, Lenny. I get that. I love you for it. My dad loved you for it, too. Mom has always been so happy you take care of me the way you do.” She struggled to get words past her own tight throat. “When Dad passed on, I don’t know what I would have done without you. You were one of my support pillars, always around so I wouldn’t feel alone. Even during my worst days of depression.” She walked over to him and hugged him tightly. His gnarled arms wrapped around hers and he kissed her cheek.

  “You’re my kid, Ryder. You are your dad’s kid, too, I know. But you’re still mine, nonetheless.”

  It’s the most heart-felt thing he’s ever said to me. Probably to anyone. Ever.

  He let her go. She took a step back. She’d never seen the tough old man red-eyed before. “I love you, too, Lenny.”

  He sniffed and shoved a hand in his pocket to take out a handkerchief. He nodded. “Better not let anything happen to you out there. If it does, Jake Carter is going to answer to me.”

  Chapter 16

  The day of the race brought Ryder a new level of nervous energy. Along with a new level of problems. The first was a sealed letter that’d been left on her office chair that morning. The envelope was blank but the inside message had plenty to say with just a few words. Jake Carter does not date trash.

  She’d swallowed down bile. Who the heck wrote this? She’d grabbed the paper, ready to ball it up and throw it into the trash, but she’d thought better of it. If this was harassment of some kind, she might need it for the police. She shoved the message into her desk and out of her mind.

  The second problem was even more unbelievable.

 
“Where’s Clem?” Ryder demanded of everyone in her stalls. But no one was able to tell her where the goat had gone. Of all days for Clem to disappear. Handsome Dancer had taken to the brown and white goat as if his very own personal pet. The goat had a calming effect on the horse even Ryder herself had a hard time duplicating. When Handsome periodically thrashed in his stall, Clem would hear the racket and bleat loud enough to get Handsome’s attention. The horse would lower his head over the stall’s door, and Clem would stretch his neck out until they touched. The effect on Handsome would always be immediate. Ryder had joked that Clem worked better than Xanax. When I find Clem I’m going to touch my head to his, too. If it can work on nervous animals, why not me?

  But after looking high and low, Clem was nowhere to be found. Even the chickens had proverbially flown the coop. “Henrietta Hen? Carly Cluckster?” She called out their silly names but heard no more of them than she had the missing goat.

  Handsome Dancer was shifting around nervously in his stall worse than ever, neighing and bobbing his head up and down nonstop. He needs his friends. How could they all disappear like this?

  She quickly texted Mindy.

  Seconds later, Mindy texted back. Sorry, Ry. Handsome’s animal friends must have wandered off. I’d give you a hand rounding them up, but Baby Be Mine is in this race too, and I’ve got to tend to him.

  Of course Mindy is busy with her own contender. Duh! Ryder gave herself an imaginary smack on the head before texting back, No problem. Good luck in the race!

  Mindy texted back a smiley emoji with the words, You, too.